30+ Historical Survival Stories You Recommend

This giveaway asking for historical survival stories is sponsored by The Last Hours by Minette Walter.

When the Black Death enters England in 1348, no one knows what manner of sickness it is. Fear grips the people as they come to believe that the plague is a punishment for wickedness.

But Lady Anne of Develish has her own ideas. With her brutal husband absent from the manor when news of this pestilence reaches her, she looks for more sensible ways to protect her people than daily confessions of sin. She decides to bring her serfs inside the safety of the moat that surrounds her manor house, then refuses entry to anyone else, even her husband.

The people of Develish are alive. But for how long?

Whether it’s a nonfiction account or a novel, historical survival stories are super compelling. So we wanted to know which ones we should check out! Got a good book about someone who outlasts a tumultuous period of history? Any great reads about someone who makes it out of a real-life natural disaster or pandemic? Those were our questions for this giveaway, and below are just some of your answers!

Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

438 Days: An Extraordinary True Story of Survival at Sea by Jonathan Franklin

Island of the Lost: Shipwrecked at the Edge of the World by Joan Druett

The Taster by V. S. Alexander

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger

Ada Blackjack: A True Story of Survival in the Arctic by Jennifer Niven

A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park

Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors by Piers Paul Read

Into the Abyss by Carol Shaben

Blizzard: A Story of Dakota Territory by Cindy Rinaman Marsch

The Forgotten Highlander: An Incredible WWII Story of Survival in the Pacific by Alistair Urquhart

Stranded by Melinda Braun

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

Tales of the Mountain Men by Lamar Underwood

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

The Revenant: A Novel of Revenge by Michael Punke

The Survivors by Kate Furnivall

In The Heart Of The Sea by Nathanial Philbrick

Adrift: Seventy-Six Days Lost At Sea by Steven Callahan

Gates of Fire by Stephen Pressfield

Beneath A Scarlet Sky by Mark Sullivan

Dead Wake by Erik Larson

Fire In Beulah by Rilla Askew

The Lives They Left Behind by Darby Penney and Peter Stastny

Nothing to Envy by Barbara Demick

Skeletons on the Zahara: A True Story of Survival by Dean King

Tamar by Mal Peet

Miracle in the Andes by Nando Parrado

Between a Rock and a Hard Place by Aron Ralston

In Harm’s Way: The Sinking of the USS Indianapolis and the Extraordinary Story of Its Survivors by Doug Stanton

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